Fluorescence Sensing Behavior for the Detection of Alcoholic Strength and Water Based on Two Novel Metallic Complex Edifices.

Alcoholic strength is a fundamental variable in industry production and its determination is crucial in technological developments. This study offers a novel strategy for fluorescent sensing of alcoholic content based on a terbium coordination complex. In pure water, the emissive compound displays blue luminescence. However, the addition of ethanol into the aqueous solution has induced the recovery of terbium green emissions. In another case, the achieved Eu(III)-phenanthroline complex shows high sensitivity to solvent polarity and the detection of trace amount of water can be realized through an "on-off" change with a low detection limit of 32.4 ppm.